Azernews.Az

TEHRAN – Iran's parliament will not consider a plan by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to merge the ministries of oil and energy, a Tehran newspaper said Wednesday amid a political row between his government and parliament and elements of the clergy.

"A relevant parliamentary commission came to the conclusion that the oil ministry is important and should stay independent," deputy Hissein Sobhani-Nia was quoted as saying by Donyaye Eqtesad.

"Therefore, the parliament has removed the merger of the oil and energy ministries from the agenda," he said.

Observers said the dispute between parliament and Ahmadinejad's government is believed to go beyond technicalities and has become an ideological problem.

Ahmadinejad planned to merge the two ministries and become caretaker of the oil ministry himself until the plan was realized.

Parliament and the senate-like Guardian Council rejected the caretaker plan as illegal, forcing Ahmadinejad to introduce a new caretaker.

In the meantime, the president's plan to create a sports ministry failed after parliament on Tuesday rejected his candidate.

The rejections were expected to escalate the crisis between government supporters and conservatives in the parliament, as well as clerical circles who accuse Ahmadinejad and his aides of no longer following the principles of the Islamic establishment.

The main target of the conservatives and clerics is Ahmadinejad's chief of staff and relative by marriage, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, whom they accuse of undermining their power.

Parliament presented an ultimatum Monday to Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi over one of his deputies who is linked to Mashaei. Salehi was told to either fire Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh or face impeachment. Salehi gave in, and Malekzadeh resigned Tuesday.

Mashaei and other close aides of the president are branded by critics as a "deviant current" for preferring a nationalistic rather than an Islamic political approach.

Some critics have gone so far as to charge Mashaei and his group with plans to remove the clergy from power. Ahmadinejad has denied the charges but at the same time supported his aides, including Mashaei.